A longtime bartender's fury at nearly everyone, from NYC health inspectors to an intrusive and homophobic landlady, recollected in tranquility and conveyed with measured energy and often at breakneck speed, delivers not bitterness but symphonic tension and release – and laughs galore.

Most people feel they have more control over themselves than they actually do. If you’re dealing with a drinking problem, your brain will have a tendency to tell you that you can dig your way out at any point. Unfortunately, that simply isn’t true.